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United Systems of Prometheus
The United Sytems of Prometheus (USP) is the defacto human super-government in The Fields. It is a capitalist democracy that allows its member planets a large degree of freedom in their own affairs. History Origin When Humans first achieved spaceflight their world was still fragmented into hundreds of nation states. As the most powerful nations focused their efforts on extraterrestrial expansion the United Nations, an assembly of Diplomacy that all the nation states were a part of, began exerting more control over Earthen affairs. Eventually the UN became powerful enough to deliver its ultimatum to all nations of the Earth. "Join under us or leave." Most chose to leave, some chose to fight. Eventually however the UN forced all resistors off planet into the stars and began consolidating power on Earth. The UN renamed itself the "Promethean Assembly" using Greek mythology of the friendly titan who gave humans their power to insinuate that this new government would also help unlock humanities potential. However there was still an issue, history had told humans that letting colonies go and giving them time to develop unabated would create superpowers that Earth couldn't keep up with and many of these colonies still wanted to return to their home of Earth. It was time to consolidate power. Unification The unification of the human colonies wasn't as hard as the Promethean Assembly predicted. Apparently the large influx of the Earthen refugees and previous lies as to the viability of many colonial holdings meant that most extraterrestrial settlements were undergoing some crisis by the time the Promethean fleet arrived. What was meant to be a military operation quickly became a humanitarian one with many colonies gladly pledging allegiance to the Prometheans in exchange for simple resources like water and air. This was not the case for New Washington. The primarily American colony was both too big to experience and too central for the Prometheans to take no for an answer and unfortunately the New Washingtonians were doing just fine without them. It was unclear as to why it happened but one of the fleet vessels "accidentally" dropped a bomb onto the planet. New Washington was a large and populous colony but it was not a military installation. Many Prometheans believed that the Washingtonians would blast it out the sky using the many guns they had been talking about. But the bomb fell unimpeded. The blast left the over 1 million dead with tens of millions wounded. The Washington government said there would be no surrendering and New Washington was depopulated entirely. It is to this date the bloodiest conflict humans have engaged in. The entire fleet's officer corp was executed as punishment for the conflict but the message had already been sent. All other colonies agreed to be ruled by the Promethean Assembly. Decade of Concessions After Unification the Promethean Assembly looked properly towards its surroundings. Formal contact was quickly established with the other 4 major powers in The Fields. Maps were drawn, regulations created, and treaties were signed. There was a pressing issue that the Promethean Assembly was deliberately avoiding. How to govern the colonies. The Promethean Assembly was a government of Earth, it was clunky and capricious in its dealing with its colonies. Eventually the tragedy of New Washington was dulled in the minds of the colonies and they grew bolder. The Prometheans officials were also worried about sending the fleet in as many officers were openly looking for an excuse to defy the government and take control themselves. So began the Decade of Concessions. Notable concessions included: * Independent Colonization rights * Private Fleet rights * Numerous Taxation Easements * Individual Criminal Codes * Individual Export Allowances * Independent Toll rights These concessions shaped the USP to this day as a very independent form of government. Finally the Decade of Concessions was ended by the proclamation of the Promethean Assembly. "It is by our combined will that the Promethean Assembly will transfer governance of all colonial enterprises to a new democratically elected body called "The United Systems of Prometheus' Chosen" and place ourselves under its rule also." The proclamation created a new governing body solely for the administration of interplanetary affairs. This allowed the colonies to get much more legitimate power and allowed the Fleet officers who wanted a shot a politics a level playing field to enter on. Consolidation and Expansion The newly elected 'super-government' had to gain legitimacy fast. After the first elections many colonies that hadn't gotten a good position were looking for the door, especially since the Promethean Assembly had kept the Fleet as their own private force. Rather inauspiciously the first acts of the USP were blatant corruption and bribery. Disgraced Navy officers and unscrupulous pilots were paid to commandeer and steal military vessels for the government. Many ships were lost as new captains decided piracy was much more lucrative than navy life, still as fleet was assembled and it was loyal, mostly, to the USP. The next issue the USP had to contend with was that it had no land or industry of its own and the taxation given by its member states was pitifully small due to concessions made by the Promethean Assembly. Thus the USP had no money to support any projects or fleet presence. The only thing the USP did have was a legendary embezzler as its chief of finance. Mark Finnigan was his name and under his 10 years of office the USP coffers grew so enormous that no one can tell to this day how much he stole. His primary method of generating stable income and industry for the USP was to buy private land rights on colonial worlds that were trying to expand and then donate the land to the USP. Once the colonies caught on it was too late with a convenient USP cruiser hanging in orbit to ensure smooth business relations. The USP now had a fleet and the money to support it. So the next step was to start making some changes to constitution it was bound by. 20 amendments were flown through the senate, reforming the USP from a a weak protector of the independent to a fair but strict ruler. The systems were still independent but the USP could at least force certain changes upon them. During this time the Chief of Resources started multiple colonization efforts. The USP was gaining more and more territory it could call its own. = Powerfall When Mark Finnigan term was up he moved into private business like most chiefs of finance do. The key difference is that the corporation that Mark moved to was Powerfall, where he had invested all his embezzled money in. Powerfall grew so powerful so quickly it became an immediate issue to the USP. Powerfall owned most private business throughout the entirety of Human space and had a monopoly of monopolies for dozens of sectors of business. Mark had done some effective sabotage to the USP as well, when the USP took Powerfall to court, the courts unanimously sided with Powerfall due to loopholes in USP legislature. Powerfall was sucking the life out of USP. Fortunately for the USP Mark was a terrible diplomat. Once he had pissed off enough local politicians a coalition formed which very narrowly managed to pass a cessation order through the senate. Powerfall not wanting to hand over most of its money to the USP decided to raise a space fleet to oppose the USP. An all out secession was declared by Powerfall that it was now an independent government led in perpetuity by Mark Finnigan. Civil War was remarkably short with only one major conflict that Mark himself led against an inferior USP force. Luckily reinforcements for the USP arrived and killed Mark, scattering the rest of the Powerfall fleet. Leaderless the Powerfall corporation signed the Flannigan accords, which limited Powerfall's power and set heavy regulations and constitutional duties upon them. List of Systems * Earth * Proxima Centauri * Alpha Centauri * Marshallia * Leptonia * New Eden * Nizny Stargorod * Lien Iun Bok * Star Force * Apricot Down * planet 10 * planet 11 * planet 12 * planet 13 * planet 14 * planet 15 * planet 16 * planet 17 * planet 18 * planet 19 * planet 20 * planet 21 * planet 22 * planet 23 * planet 24 * planet 25